Surah 17 - Al Isra' THE NIGHT JOURNEY 017.052-100

[Anne Terri]

Surah 17 - Al Isra' THE NIGHT JOURNEY 017.052 - 017.100

017.052 "It will be on the Day when He will call you, and ye will answer (His call) with (words of) His praise, and ye will think that ye tarried but a little while!"

017.053 Say to My servants that they should (only) say those things that are best: for Satan doth sow dissensions among them: For Satan is to man an avowed enemy.

017.054 It is your Lord that knoweth you best: If He please, He granteth you mercy, or if He please, punishment: We have not sent thee to be a disposer of their affairs for them.

017.055 And it is your Lord that knoweth best all beings that are in the heavens and on earth: And We made some of the prophets to excel others: and We gave to David (the gift of) the Psalms.

017.056 Say: "Call on those - besides Him - whom ye fancy: they have neither the power to remove your troubles from you nor to change them."

017.057 Those whom they call upon do seek (for themselves) means of access to their Lord, - as to who are nearest: they hope for His Mercy and fear His Wrath: for the Wrath of thy Lord is something to take heed of.

017.058 There is not a population but We shall destroy it before the Day of Judgment or punish it with a dreadful Chastisement: that is written in the (eternal) Record.

017.059 And We refrain from sending the signs, only because the men of former generations treated them as false: We sent the she-camel to the Thamud -a visible sign-, but they treated her wrongfully: We only send the Signs by way of fear (and warning from evil).

017.060 Behold! We told thee that thy Lord doth encompass mankind round about: We granted the vision which We showed thee, but as a trial for men,- as also the Cursed Tree (mentioned) in the Qur'an: We put terror (and warning) into them, but it only increases their inordinate transgression!

017.061 Behold! We said to the angels: "Prostrate unto Adam": They prostrated except Iblis: He said, "Shall I prostrate to one whom Thou didst create from clay?"

017.062 He said: "Seest Thou? this is the one whom Thou hast honoured above me! If Thou wilt but respite me to the Day of Judgment, I will surely bring his descendants under my sway - all but a few!"

017.063 (God) said: "Go thy way; if any of them follow thee, verily Hell will be the recompense of you (all)- an ample recompense.

017.064 "And arouse those whom thou canst among them, with thy (seductive) voice; make assaults on them with thy cavalry and thy infantry; mutually share with them wealth and children; and make promises to them." But Satan promises them nothing but deceit.

017.065 "As for My servants, no authority shalt thou have over them:" Enough is thy Lord for a Disposer of affairs.

017.066 Your Lord is He That maketh the Ship go smoothly for you through the sea, in order that ye may seek of his Bounty. For he is unto you most Merciful.

017.067 When distress seizes you at sea, those that ye call upon - besides Himself - leave you in the lurch! but when He brings you back safe to land, ye turn away (from Him). Most ungrateful is man!

017.068 Do ye then feel secure that He will not cause you to be swallowed up beneath the earth when ye are on land, or that He will not send against you a violent tornado (with showers of stones) so that ye shall find no one protector?

017.069 Or do ye feel secure that He will not send you back a second time to sea and send against you a heavy gale to drown you because of your ingratitude, so that ye find no helper. Therein against Us?

017.070 We have honoured the sons of Adam; provided them with transport on land and sea; given them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favours, above a great part of our creation.

017.071 On the day We shall call together all human beings with their (respective) Imams: those who are given their record in their right hand will read it (with pleasure), and they will not be dealt with unjustly in the least.

017.072 But those who were blind in this world, will be blind in the hereafter, and most astray from the Path.

017.073 And their purpose was to tempt thee away from that which We had revealed unto thee, to substitute in our name something quite different; (in that case), behold! they would certainly have made thee (their) friend!

017.074 And had We not given thee strength, thou wouldst nearly have inclined to them a little.

017.075 In that case We should have made thee taste double portion (of punishment) in this life, and an equal portion in death: and moreover thou wouldst have found none to help thee against Us!

017.076 Their purpose was to scare thee off the land, in order to expel thee; but in that case they would not have stayed (therein) after thee, except for a little while.

017.077 (This was Our) way with the apostles We sent before thee: thou wilt find no change in Our ways.

017.078 Establish regular prayers - at the sun's decline till the darkness of the night, and the recital of the Qur'an in the morning prayer for the recital of dawn is witnessed.

017.079 And as for the night keep awake a part of it an additional prayer for thee: soon will thy Lord raise thee to a Station of Praise and Glory!

017.080 Say: "O my Lord! Let my entry be by the Gate of Truth and Honour, and likewise my exit by the Gate of Truth and Honour; and grant me from Thee an authority to aid (me)."

017.081 And say: "Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish."

017.082 We send down (stage by stage) in the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe: to the unjust it causes nothing but loss after loss.

017.083 Yet when We bestow Our favours on man, he turns away and becomes remote on his side (instead of coming to Us), and when evil seizes him he gives himself up to despair!

017.084 Say: "Everyone acts according to his own disposition: But your Lord knows best who it is that is best guided on the Way."

017.085 They ask thee concerning the Spirit. Say: "The Spirit is of the command of my Lord: of knowledge it is only a little that is communicated to you, (O men!)"

017.086 If it were Our Will, We could take away that which We have sent thee by inspiration:then wouldst thou find none to plead thy affair in that matter as against Us,-

017.087 Except for Mercy from thy Lord: for his bounty is to thee (indeed) great.

017.088 Say: "If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support.

017.089 And We have explained to man, in this Qur'an, every kind of similitude: yet the greater part of men refuse (to receive it) except with ingratitude!

017.090 They say: "We shall not believe in thee, until thou cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth,

017.091 "Or (until) thou have a garden of date trees and vines, and cause rivers to gush forth in their midst, carrying abundant water;

017.092 "Or thou cause the sky to fall in pieces, as thou sayest (will happen), against us; or thou bring God and the angels before (us) face to face:

017.093 "Or thou have a house adorned with gold, or thou mount a ladder right into the skies. No, we shall not even believe in thy mounting until thou send down to us a book that we could read." Say: "Glory to my Lord! Am I aught but a man,- an apostle?"

017.094 What kept men back from belief when Guidance came to them, was nothing but this: they said, "Has God sent a man (like us) to be (His) Apostle?"

017.095 Say, "If there were settled, on earth, angels walking about in peace and quiet, We should certainly have sent them down from the heavens an angel for an apostle."

017.096 Say: "Enough is God for a witness between me and you: for He is well acquainted with His servants, and He sees (all things).

017.097 It is he whom God guides, that is on true Guidance; but he whom He leaves astray - for such wilt thou find no protector besides Him. On the Day of Judgment We shall gather, them together, prone on their faces, blind, dumb, and deaf: their abode will be Hell: every time it shows abatement, We shall increase for them the fierceness of the Fire.

017.098 That is their recompense, because they rejected Our signs, and said, "When we are reduced to bones and broken dust, should we really be raised up (to be) a new Creation?"

017.099 See they not that God, Who created the heavens and the earth, has power to create the like of them (anew)? Only He has decreed a term appointed, of which there is no doubt. But the unjust refuse (to receive it) except with ingratitude.

017.100 Say: "If ye had control of the Treasures of the Mercy of my Lord, behold, ye would keep them back, for fear of spending them: for man is (ever) niggardly!"